Ps.96:9 – Worship the LORD in holy attire;
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
True revival cannot be mimicked. You can sort of copy the style of the preaching, the music, and the congregational response but it will never ring true. It’s hard to describe but once you have been touched by God and caught up with other believers in a Spirit of revival none of the counterfeits or copies will ever satisfy your heart for God. God Himself is in the atmosphere of His outpouring, He is in the preaching, the worship, and the response to all of that by His people. Recently I have been reading Jonathan Edwards’ book called the Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. As I read this narrative I am brought back to the early days of the outpouring in our church in 1994. The church in Northampton experienced something similar to what we tasted in New Orleans in 1994. Here is an excerpt from Edwards’ book on the outpouring in 1735.
“Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable that there has been scarce any part of divine worship, wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing his praises. Our congregation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part of the duty before, generally carrying regularly and well three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves. But now they were evidently wont to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed.
In all companies, on other days, on whatever occasions persons met together, Christ was to be heard of, and seen in the midst of them. Our young people, when they met, were wont to spend the time in talking of the excellency and dying love of Jesus Christ, the gloriousness of the way of salvation, the wonderful, free, and sovereign grace of God, his glorious work in the conversion of a soul, the truth and certainty of the great things of God’s Word, the sweetness of the views of his perfections, etc.”
Two things jump out at me from this quote, the exceptional joy and fervency in their worship and the casual conversation of the people of that town, all they wanted to talk about was Jesus. That seems to be true in every move of God, joyful celebration in worship and a constant conversation about the Lord and what He has done. As I read this testimony of the move of God in Northampton I can feel a hunger and an expectancy growing in me, something powerful and unprecedented is about to happen in our world.
